Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

Re: ''Summons''

If you do not appear in Court pursuant to the summons, or have an attorney represent you, the creditors attorney will simply take a judgment against you and then be able to collect on that judgment by running garnishments or executions against your income, or your assets. I would very strongly suggest that you hire an attorney to represent you to avoid a judgment being entered if at all possible. In many cases, when I am hired to represent someone in your position I am able to negotiate a settlement which saves my client more money than my fees have cost. In many cases, I am able to negotiate a settlement which prevents the creditor from taking any further legal action to collect so long as my client makes regular payments against the outstanding balance. In some cases there may even be a defense to the suit filed against you, and an attorney would be able to advise you further about that. Please take my advice and hire an attorney as soon as you can, and good luck.

Re: ''Summons''

I cannot emphasize what Mr. Nack said strongly enough. When you receive a "summons" it means someone has sued you, and if you don't act on that summons it means that you're going to get a default judgment taken against you.

Sometimes people think "well, I don't have the $3000 they want, what difference does it make?" The difference it makes is that they can then garnish your wages, and your employer is not going to be happy about that and neither are you. Worse, if you have a checking account or a savings account at a bank (and have ever paid your credit card bill with that account) the judgment gives the creditor the right to completely clean out the account. You could wind up looking at lots of bounced checks. If you own your car or boat or ever plan or selling your house, those items can be taken as well in the legal process, and you have very little way of defending if you do not defend in the suit initiated by this summons.

Although I do not do collection work like Mr. Nack, what he says is absolutely true. It is not uncommon for a lawyer to be able to negotiate a settlement with a credit card company that eliminates interest and more than credits the fees paid to the attorney. By far the most important thing an attorney does, however, is protect the legal rights of the client and prevents the sheriff showing up on a Monday morning when you're supposed to be at work and towing away your car.

So, like Mr. Nack says, I would urge you to contact an attorney immediately who works in the area of debtor rights. You can locate such an attorney through the Law Guru site, or you can contact the Missouri Bar Lawyer Referral Service for additional information by going to the Missouri Bar site at www.mobar.org.